Harvest Update No. 4

Our harvests are slowly morphing into real summer feasts now, with summer squash, cucumbers, and beets taking new roles in the kitchen. We harvested the last of the “new” potatoes today, as well as other goodies totaling up to just under 20 pounds. Our season-to-date total is now well over 60 pounds.

Notice how friable the soil structure is! No digging necessary, though I used my fork to loosen along the outside edges of the bed. It was a pleasant job to run my hands through the dirt in search of spuds.

We’ve harvested small batches of potatoes several times previously, so the total yield for our 30″ square plot came to about 17 pounds. We did get some potato beetle damage towards the end, due to carelessness in reclosing the ProtekNet after harvesting the Hakurai turnips. In the future, I will avoid that fate by not combining early harvest crops in the same mini-hoop as the potatoes.

Garlic—about 4 pounds (20 heads)—was also part of today’s score. It is now hanging from the ceiling of my screened porch to dry. All the garlic I’ve been seeing around our area this year looks great, and ours was no exception.

Proteknet tunnels keep Japanese beetles, cucumber beetles, and birds off beds of dry beans. In the foreground, Rio Zape, a pinto bean discovered in a Hopi cave, is noted for hints of chocolate in its flavor profile.

Photo Credit: Diane Garey

The “Little Easy Bean Project:” We’re participating in a program to preserve rare beans. The low tunnel provides insect protection to ensure the precious seeds reach maturity so they can be deposited back in the seed bank in the Fall.

Photo Credit: Diane Garey

Inside one of the bean tunnels: all is looking good!

Photo Credit: Diane Garey

A couple of everbearing strawberries have been planted at eye level as a “trap crop” to lure passers by who might otherwise be tempted to taste the premium Fairfax strawberries below!

Photo Credit: Diane Garey

The spinach bed has just had it’s last harvest, and will be quickly prepared for a new planting of winter storage carrots.